Rainhorn: Chapters 7-9 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

New chapters.

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Chapter 7

Before they asked any questions, they got well out of sight of the gate, just in case others started coming through. It was evident that the Deuxan side was nowhere near as prominent, but the chaos in Nlukoko could well spill over. Particularly if the Landguards were still involved, though Theo hoped that they had finally slipped their scrutiny.

Once they had reached safety behind a hill of bronze, however, they all turned on the strange creature following them. Senka stared up at them with a look that wasn't even innocence, just a vapid blandness. Since he'd apparently brought the problem, Theo decided to begin.

"Why did you follow us?"

"Because there are bad people in the city, and you seem like a bunch of fumpets!" Senka proclaimed the words cheerfully, but Theo narrowed his eyes.

"Earlier, you said that there was a 'fumpet' looking for you."

 Senka stared at him as if he was babbling nonsense, then abruptly began giggling. "That was a mean, bad fumpet! You're all good fumpets."

That didn't satisfy him, but before Theo could ask another question, Fiyu spoke up. "I do not understand. What is a fumpet?"

"A fumpet is someone who's full of blook!"

The three of them exchanged a glance, which itself indicated that none of them could understand her. Considering that they had just gone through a gate, they should all be speaking the local Deuxan language, including Senka. It was possible to forcibly speak a different language, even selectively, though that usually required more intelligence than Senka had displayed. His only plausible theory was that the words she was using were so alien that their souls couldn't translate them, yet he'd never seen it happen and the words didn't actually seem very alien.

Apparently deciding that it was irrelevant, Nauda bent down on one knee and regarded Senka, her gaze kindness wrapped over steel. "We want to help you, Senka. Can you tell us who is looking for you?"

"Ummm... did you see the fancy floaty fumpets? Not the winged fumpet, the other ones."

"Landguards?"

"Senka doesn't know that word! But, umm... Senka fell into that other place, and the fumpets are looking for bad things. They want to sporp Senka because they think Senka is bad. So Senka ran away because you were running away and now Senka is here and this place is different but it is okay because you're a bunch of fumpets."

"I see." Nauda's smile looked completely authentic to him, but he knew there was more behind it. "Do you know why they're looking for you?"

"Senka doesn't know!"

"No theories at all? Who exactly are you?"

"Senka is Senka, you silly gurfoop!"

That tautology stymied them for a time until Fiyu made her own attempt. "Hello, Senka. I am Fiyu, I am an Ichili from the Inner Moonscape. What are you?"

"Senka is a Senka from Senkaland!"

Hesitating, Nauda glanced up at him, and the best he had was a shrug. She was about to say something, but then Fiyu knelt down beside them and spoke quietly. "I will take care of Senka. Why don't you and Jake discuss where we should go next?"

The fake name jolted him from his thoughts and Theo realized that Fiyu was right. Though Senka seemed harmless, the unknown variables were themselves a threat. Though she claimed to be escaping the Landguards, that didn't preclude the possibility that she was lying, or even that she was some kind of innocent construct that was still being used against them. Given that there were many things he didn't know about the Nine, he couldn't dismiss the possibility.

Though Fiyu drew Senka into her lap and began stroking her hair, she had intentionally given them this opportunity to discuss the matter separately. Theo retreated along with Nauda until they were out of earshot, then finally turned back to one another.

"I take it you don't know what she is?" Nauda asked. He could only shake his head.

"I've met people from all Nine Worlds, and while there are other species I've never seen, she doesn't seem like anything I've heard about."

"I can't pin anything down either. What bothers me is that you bound her with gravity, right? If she had some way to escape, she might be more than she appears."

Theo shook his head. "I'm not strong enough to maintain gravitational fields from a great distance, so they would have lessened, then she could have followed us. Obnoxious, but not suspicious. Besides, it doesn't seem like she can use cantae... or do you know something about that?"

"Let me show you." Nauda grasped his arm and drew him inward, briefly floating through her soulhome before using her brass telescope.

Soon after, his spirit floated outside a planet of garbage. That was his first impression before he reconsidered, but even once he got a sense of scale, it was hard to shake the image: where Senka should have had a soulhome, there was only a sphere made up of refuse. He saw stones of many types, fragments of boards, twisted pieces of metal, and objects he couldn't identify. All felt vaguely like sublime materials, yet he didn't know how it was possible to lump together so much. Or why anyone would do it, considering that the solid sphere couldn't store cantae and wouldn't grant anything special.

"She can use cantae, but extremely ineptly," Nauda's spirit explained beside him. "Her soulhome is refuse all the way through, so cantae just flows over the surface. She might be subconsciously making herself a bit tougher and faster, but it's useless for essentially all other purposes."

"And I take it that neither of us have any idea what she could be."

"Demons have no souls, so it can't be that. Sublime beasts I've examined seem to have a single tier that grows outward instead of upward, but perhaps there are stranger types? Something between a sublime beast and a human."

"I doubt it." Though he still disliked the situation, Theo was fairly certain there was a more probable answer. "It's more likely that she's an entity alien to the Nine Worlds, accidentally arriving here through the cracks. That might explain why she's unintelligible, and it's possible that crossing from her native world had something to do with the state of her soulhome, if that is what it is."

"So she's an outsider like you."

Despite all his thoughts, Theo was still startled to hear that framing. It was essentially true, however: as an outsider to the Nine Worlds, his transitions to them were far more traumatic. Both times it seemed to have created a new body and left nothing of what he'd built in his soul. For a moment he realized that it was almost similar to demons, though of course it couldn't be, since he gained a soulhome as soon as he left Earth.

"You don't like that idea?" Nauda squeezed his arm in a way he couldn't easily interpret. "I suppose we can't rule out the possibility that she's some sort of advanced demon, or perhaps a mangled one. The higher stage ones do seem more intelligent."

"But it's always an animal intelligence, never the ability to speak or reflect." Now that he thought about it, that seemed odd to him, but he brushed the matter aside as irrelevant for the time being. "No, the theory that she's an outsider to the Nine Worlds seems most likely. The question is what we're going to do about it."

"Well, it seems clear that she intends to follow us. One benefit of taking her is that it means we're not a group of three anymore, and we could pretend to be a family. That might help shake pursuit."

"Or just draw more problems down on us, if the Landguards are really looking for her. I wonder if she didn't enter Tatian at the same time Fiyu and I did. Given that she's not exactly subtle, she might be the one that they're putting so much effort into finding."

Nauda immediately gave a warm smile edging into a grin. "Surely not. How could all of this business possibly be about anyone other than you?"

"You mock, but I'm happy about that. Keeping a low profile while ascending will be hard enough without any direct scrutiny." Theo matched her overly warm smile with a mocking scowl. "I expect the two of you to take care of the little brat, though."

"Actually, Fiyu might have that handled." Nauda's gaze wandered back and Theo saw that Fiyu was playing with Senka, swinging her braid back and forth. She might have orchestrated the conversation, but Fiyu wasn't guarded with her expressions, so the enjoyment on her face must have been authentic. Odd that she was so willing to touch the creature, but perhaps children had different rules.

Well, if it kept Senka from annoying him to death, he would take it.

When they returned, Senka immediately looked up at them with a broad smile. "Are you two done sporping?"

"We need a plan for our time here." Nauda propped her staff on the ground and leaned on it, eyes sweeping the horizon as she spoke. "It's most important to avoid the Landguard, but we can't waste our time here. Unfortunately, Jake is the only one who has any experience in Deuxan. Any chance that you're familiar with this area?"

"I definitely haven't been in this region before." As Theo looked over the bronze grasses, he found his mind wandering back to the glorious fountains of Areesi and the silvery forests where he'd first met Brigana. By then he had been an experienced soulcrafter, but the intricate courts of Deuxan had still thrown him until she had found him... "The areas I've been didn't have grass like this. We'll have to look around."

"I suppose it would be too much to hope you have allies here."

"Of course not. You have to remember that every one of the Nine is an entire world. Deuxan has four continents filled with hundreds of different nations, plus several uninhabitable zones." He was lecturing, and they probably knew that, but it helped to ground himself again. "There's only a remote chance that we're anywhere near the regions I knew, so don't get your hopes up."

That left out the larger problem that he'd avoided talking about: time. Though he preferred not to think about it, he knew that time ran differently between Earth and the Nine Worlds, so most likely he was separated from anyone he knew by an unknown period of time. He had spent years in the Nine on his first visit, only to wake up mere months later on Earth. After forty years... well, he would hope that time didn't consistently run like that, or his allies would be mere history, even if they had survived.

Fiyu began to rise and made a soft sound as Senka latched onto her braid, tugging it down. She resolutely detached herself from Senka and stepped back into her personal space, which the little brat actually seemed to respect. Once on her own, Fiyu's warmth faded to cool consideration.

"There was a trail from the gate. We should follow it to a settlement."

"I agree, but we should pick up sublime materials first. They'll be scarcer than on Tatian, but we should still take what we can get." Theo began walking, eyes searching for a shining city on the horizon. "Deuxan... isn't as friendly as Tatian. We've had it easy before now, but that's over."

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Chapter 8

As they traveled through Deuxan, Theo reflected on a new reason to acquire a vehicle of some kind: they couldn't soulcraft while walking. There was a great deal of work to do, especially given the environments they might face once they reached civilization, but they needed to spend some of their time scouting. Fortunately, they uncovered the basics with little wasted time.

The gate to Tatian sat in a relative backwater, with only a secondary road leading to it. If they avoided that road, they could still determine the rough layout of the land, in particular larger roads leading to a nearby city. Part of the region was completely restricted in farms with defended hedge walls, filled with gleaming steel thorns, so they stuck to the hinterlands as they made their way forward.

Deuxan itself hadn't changed, at least in its fundamental nature. The grass shimmered like bronze, but there were a few silvery trees that were comfortingly familiar, even if they weren't the same species as those he knew. Given the temperature, he suspected they were much further from the poles than the continent he'd explored with Brigana, presuming that Deuxan followed similar physical laws overall.

Fiyu nervously asked him about what nights were like and he could only say that it varied throughout the year. As it grew darker, the moon rose from the horizon, a vast white disk that shed strangely pale light. Though it was still easily light enough to see, Fiyu seemed to find this light much less troubling, and she was glad to hear that during some parts of the year, the moon was below the horizon, leading to much darker nights.

They made camp beside a small lake without a fire, but weren't about to sleep just yet. Nauda revealed that she carried more supplies than she needed, so they were fine for food, at least for a while. As they ate, it was time to discuss their next step.

"I've seen your soulcrafting progress," Theo said, "but we're going to need to make more. Unless we're in a part of Deuxan where I have allies or stored supplies, we'll need to prove ourselves quickly."

"My goal is to ascend to Archcrafter, and I think I have what I need." Nauda had been snapping tree branches and drawing them into her soulhome since she sat down, though she struggled to overcome their flexibility. "Once there, I have sublime materials ready, so the rest can go to the two of you."

"We have a present for you!" Fiyu smiled and pulled an unusual stone from her pack, which sat strangely in her hands. Theo took it and began to experiment with its properties, but it wasn't time to shift to full design just yet.

"Thank you, I do need new materials to finish my blueprint. I'm nowhere near ready to ascend to Archcrafter, and we need ranks to have standing here. Fiyu, are you close?"

"Oh... no, my relative said it is important to be completely satisfied with each tier before you move on. He said that he would give me materials for ascension when I was ready, and I still have soulcrafting to do."

Nauda frowned with her hands still on one branch and leaned forward. "You don't need to show us your entire soulhome, but would you be willing to tell us more about your capacities?"

"I suppose there is no harm in that. I am a bit proud of my progress, so it would be nice to show someone." Fiyu reached out and delicately touched Nauda's knee with one finger, so Nauda reached over to Theo to draw them all into her observation technique.

"Senka too! Senka wants to see things!"

"No." Theo pushed her back, then put a reversed gravitational field underneath her. Tempting as it was to send her into the air, he didn't want to hurt the obnoxious little brat, so instead he added and removed other fields to cancel out her momentum... while she was floating significantly far from them.

Though Senka babbled something about flying, it was easier to ignore her now, especially once Nauda used her technique to draw their spirits into Fiyu's soulhome.

As before, his spirit emerged into a dark Ichili expanse, but he cast his attention immediately to the soulhome at the center. Gone were the canvas walls and all other signs of ongoing construction, instead leaving a large circular tower. There were still some rough edges, and he suspected her blueprint involved polishing the exterior, but he was more concerned with the building materials.

Now that the construction materials were cleared away, it was obvious that her tower was divided into three different sections: one of pitch black stone, one of ice, and one of hardened magma. Though roughly divided into thirds, each section seemed to lean into the next. Ordinarily he'd consider that sloppy construction or design, but since it was Fiyu, he presumed that it must be intentional.

"It seems like you're drawing off three different themes," Nauda said as she completed a circuit. "I'm not sure I understand how they connect, but since they seem to merge together well enough, I suppose that lets you use a huge variety of sublime materials."

"Yes." Fiyu bobbed her head happily and moved to the side, running her fingers over the exterior. "I am glad to finally have the last walls complete, though they still need more work. And I fear there is far more soulcrafting to do inside."

"Four sections." Theo spoke up more abruptly than he intended, as his examination of the entrance led him to a discovery. Though the room itself was obscured by shadows, he realized that the frame and part of the wall around the door was actually a dark metallic substance that didn't match any of the others.

"This is a special sublime material given to me by my relative." Fiyu ran her fingers over the door frame almost affectionately. "It is rare, but it allows me to use cantae from different sources more easily. However, it requires an entrance chamber of its own... similar to your vestibule, Theo."

"So how many chambers?"

"Other than the entrance and the hearth in the center... six, two for each section. That allows a balanced duality for each material. For example... the magma can produce terrible light to harm my foes, but also gentle heat to warm myself. I have not been able to soulcraft the gentle heat part yet."

It was clearly a well-designed blueprint, especially given how it required a rare material as the linchpin. The result was a very even balance of techniques: the hail of bolts at range, the dark blade up close, and he presumed her sensory awareness. He could have used a sensory technique himself, but casting his effort in too many directions would be a fatal mistake.

"You seem like you have a clear plan." Nauda smiled warmly, though he thought there was a hint of wistfulness behind it. "Do you have all the sublime materials you need, then?"

"I fear not." Fiyu sighed and leaned against the door. "I lack materials for some of the other chambers, and my relative was to give me more potent sources of cantae once my soulhome was sound enough to endure them. But do not fear: I still have others to adapt, and I have a great deal of work to do on the exterior."

"Actually, it motivates me to get to work. Let's see how much we can do before we reach the city, shall we?"

With that, Nauda released her technique, returning them to the camp to begin work. Compared to the two of them, Theo was again dissatisfied with his soulhome. They had years of preparation on him, of course, and he'd soulcrafted more rapidly than anyone could expect, but that wouldn't matter at all if they faced a lethal threat.

Theo entered his soulhome and began pacing through the outer rooms around his core, considering. He was tough enough not to have a standard cantae bolt tear through his body now, so he needed an offensive skill. The problem was that his gravitational torsion skill simply wasn't coming together, and few good techniques could be developed by simply trying really hard or gathering a bunch of cantae.

Back in reality, he examined the stone again before squeezing it until it appeared in his soulhome. There, he was surprised by how intensely it pressed against all the other materials - it might be nearly Archcrafter tier, just unusually difficult to use.

Though gravity was fundamentally the opposite of a sublime material that pushed things away, he'd found that dualities often worked well in soulcrafting. Perhaps he could create a technique that functioned as some sort of reverse mass? It wasn't scientific - at least, anti-gravitons had been only theoretical when he'd last been on Earth - but conceptually it might fit into his soulhome. So far his experiments at creating gravity had proved weak, but if he combined them with a technique that did the reverse...

Walking to his third corner chamber, Theo set the repelling stone in the center. To his surprise, it stabilized surprisingly well, pressing against every wall and keeping itself in the center. Since it tended to float a bit with his movements, he fashioned rings of hearthtree wood and fixed them to the floor and ceiling. With the stone pressing against the edges of the rings as well as the walls, it stayed in the center fairly well.

That was a good start, but could he actually turn it into a technique? As the night wore on, Theo dedicated himself to different experiments, attempting to hang or orbit various objects around the central force. It didn't result in any breakthroughs, but he thought he was making progress.

While the others went to sleep, he lay down and continued soulcrafting. In his previous life, he had been able to sleep physically while soulcrafting internally... it wasn't as good as real sleep, and dangerous to do for long, but it was an excellent option when he desperately needed soulcrafting time.

Unfortunately, his new soul hadn't quite developed the stamina to manage it, so he struggled with drifting off. He pressed on as hard as he could, aiming to recondition his soul, and drifted next to unconsciousness throughout the night. It didn't feel exactly like sleep, but the night slipped away from him faster than it should and somehow as the sun rose, he was partially rested with a partially developed technique chamber. Good enough for a first try.

When he rubbed sleep out of his eyes, he took a moment to admire the lake beside them. As the darkness lifted, the surface shone like liquid mercury, waves moving across it sluggishly. He took a while simply to admire the sight, welcoming in its alienness.

"Is that water?" Nauda asked. She sat upright leaning on her staff, having apparently taken the last watch. "It doesn't look safe to drink."

"I don't think it's really water, but it's what they have here." Theo walked closer to the lake and trailed a finger through the heavy liquid, then pulled it back to test a few drops. "It should be safe. We may look and feel essentially the same, but I think our bodies shift slightly when we pass between worlds, adapting us to the new environment just like our languages adapt."

"An older soulcrafter I once knew told me something similar: that without a shift between worlds, travelers would die of far more diseases." Nauda appeared to be admiring the lake as well, but her gaze soon shifted to him. "The same must have applied to you, if there really are no soulhomes in your world. And you're younger this time too. I wonder if there are laws of these transitions that we could uncover."

"I don't know." Theo found himself grinning and rose. "I really have no idea."

And that was the beauty of it: nine worlds filled with mysteries for him to uncover. Theo raised his arms to either side to absorb the Deuxan sun and took his deepest breath in years.

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Chapter 9

As their stores of food began to run low, Theo thought they understood the lay of the land. The grassy region containing the gate to Tatian was neither particularly dangerous nor particularly fertile, so it remained mostly uninhabited, including an absence of any pursuers from Nlukoko. Other regions, however, proved less simple.

To the east the razor hedge blocked off a significant area that appeared to be farmland, likely controlled by local families.  Northeast of the hedge, there was a region of smaller villages, but those were useless to him. The city lay due north, still unnamed, and they'd travel there once they'd done all the preparation they could. But the most important region was to the northwest, which grew denser with silvery trees.

If he understood correctly, it was actually a managed forest, controlled by the local powers but not as firmly blocked off. Their group had mostly avoided it while they gathered information and soulcrafted final advantages for themselves, but if they wanted new sublime materials, they'd have to consider taking the risk.

The question was the level of risk and how best to mitigate it. At the moment, Theo scanned the borders, considering every variable he had any control over. Fiyu was scouting using her special senses and Nauda was investigating socially, so hopefully they would provide additional angles. For his part, what mattered was which resources were actually critical to local families...

"What," Nauda said as she came up behind him, silver cloak flapping, "you're not going to just steal everything like usual?"

"On Deuxan, stealing from the wrong person could get you killed." Theo turned away from the forest to look back at her. "Have you just been letting this moral indignation simmer? Am I going to get a lecture now?"

To his surprise, Nauda totally ignored his question and instead answered in a mild tone. "Have you ever seen a Tatian morality play?"

"The ones with the fancy masks in the village square? I think I saw a few from a distance on my previous visit, but I didn't pay much attention to them."

"I suspect you would hate them. They're simple little stories about good and bad members of the community, showing how crimes such as lies or theft hurt everyone and damage the community. The villains are terrible caricatures who announce out loud that they hate the community and think it needs to be torn down so only the strong can rule."

"You sound like you've been forced to sit through a few too many of them."

"Not exactly, Theo." After a deep breath, Nauda glanced back at him, everything about her expression wiped clean to reveal a deceptive mildness. "What I find troubling about you is how indifferent you seem to the idea of community. I've met a few morality play villains in the real world, and more who simply can't care for others, but you... we might have most of the same values, I think, but you don't seem to have any of the foundation for them."

Theo stared back at her, not having expected such an approach, but he didn't sense any mockery from her, so it deserved a serious response. "Where I'm from, we tend to frame things more individualistically, but that isn't really the point. I've seen too many people justify all their actions or spout pseudo-philosophy.  I'm trying to do what I think is necessary, but I'm no hero."

"You could play the part, almost." She gave him an oddly quirking smile. "Other than being too pale, you have the right jaw, and that hair is very Tatian. I heard about how the Archcrafters in Nlukoko listened to you. If you got yourself a humble robe and played the part, they'd buy it."

"Huh." He honestly hadn't thought of himself that way, even in his previous life. It didn't appeal, and more importantly, he didn't care except as it related to Nauda. "So why bring it up? I take it you're not actually going to object."

"It would be a bit hypocritical, since I'm wearing this cloak you probably stole." Nauda began to pull it off and handed it back to him, not making eye contact. "I think I want to make the world a better place, but all my life, I've been told that the world is the community, and I've never quite been able to embrace that."

"Nauda... I don't think I'm the right person to talk to about any of this." Maybe once, but not after forty years on Earth. She regarded him critically, then accepted his refusal and shook her head, her hair sweeping the entire matter aside.

"It's probably better learned in the doing, anyway. On that note, I was able to speak to several more local Deuxans today and I think I have the information you wanted. Shall we wait for Fiyu, then I can relate it all?"

That seemed an eminently reasonable plan, but at that moment Fiyu blurred from out of the air beside them, a slight smile on her face. "I am here. I only wanted to let you talk."

Nauda jumped a little, then gave a rueful smile. "You've got to stop sneaking up on us like that."

"I believe it is time for us all to sneak together. Observe." Fiyu closed her eyes, then a ripple passed through the air, this time encompassing them. Theo's instinct was to resist, but he let the cantae slide over his body and expand into a sphere that just encased the trio.

The world around them appeared dark and slightly hazy, but Theo was surprised how easy it was to see, given that Fiyu's technique seemed to render her completely invisible. Clearly it didn't work on a simple principle like bending light away from her. She stood beside them, without any attempt to restrain the proud smile.

"I have been working hard on this. It also softens all sounds within the sphere, though we should still be quiet. Most common methods of feeling us indirectly will also be redirected, but I could not find a way to reduce smell." Fiyu's face fell, more than that minor weakness deserved. "I am afraid that the chamber is still very modest, however, so the illusion is weak. The cantae of an Archcrafter will penetrate directly through, so it is not very useful."

"It's always possible for more intense cantae to break techniques," Nauda reassured, visibly restraining herself from embracing Fiyu. "And you've only been soulcrafting for a few days. This is more than enough for a start."

Observation by Archcrafters was actually a significant weakness, though Theo kept silent about that. It would be more productive to consider how the technique might be improved, since with the right construction it might be able to escape the eyes of even Rulers. Regardless, being invisible in plain sight was always a terrible form of stealth compared to being invisible at the margins, so this was an edge they could use.

"Everybody disappeared! Senka is confused!" The brat wandered out of the trees, eyes wide.

"This is my technique, Senka." Fiyu didn't speak any louder than normal, but Senka perked up and swung wildly in their direction. "Please wait for us while I practice."

In response, Senka charged in their direction, tripped, and rolled past them down a hill. Fiyu gasped and Nauda checked to see if she was okay, but Theo just stepped in the way to get their attention. They'd prepared as long as they could, so it was time to begin.

"Nauda, why don't you tell us what you've learned so far?"

"The city is named Anguedan," she began, "and though they made some big claims about how important it is, the local villagers gave me the sense it's only a mid-sized city. Apparently their noble court is fairly small, with under a dozen families. I confess, I don't fully understand how their communities are organized."

"Most Deuxan nations are factions within factions, all the way down. Each 'family' is actually a cluster of related clans that work together, competing against the others. They'll all come together to form the Anguedan Court, which governs the city and surrounding area. Whoever controls the local court sends the representative to a regional or national court... who is it here?"

"That explains why everyone said the Armeau family is so important: apparently they're the largest family and they have been for generations. The others are apparently too small to matter, with two exceptions. First, there's a family they call 'Tatianborn' that seems to be made up of non-Deuxans. Then the Evigne family is... part of another community, I think?"

"They're probably related to a powerful family that controls some other court." Theo folded his arms and frowned as he failed to come up with memories attached to any of the names. They might have changed over time, but it seemed more likely that he was in entirely the wrong part of Deuxan. "I'll ask once we meet court representatives, but I don't think I know anyone here, or that we're close to anything I left behind."

Nauda regarded him curiously. "You didn't... leave caches for yourself, did you?"

"No, I never expected my life to go in this direction. But after my time on Deuxan, I left some things behind that weren't useful to me then, but could be invaluable now. Most likely, none of them are still there anyway, so we'll just have to do without them."

"Theo..." Fiyu drifted closer, gazing at him so intensely he could see silver ghosts of her eyes even behind her mask. "We have waited a long time before we enter the city. Is there some danger there?"

"Probably not, but we might be challenged. Soulcrafters can challenge each other on Deuxan as a matter of law, and we can't afford that kind of attention. I just want us to be prepared."

"None of them struck me that way," Nauda said with a frown. "The villagers seemed like kind and ordinary people to me."

Though Theo felt an impulse to tell her that she didn't understand Deuxan, he shrugged instead. It was possible that Deuxan culture had changed, or that this continent was completely unlike the others, so he might be wrong. He'd already given warning enough, and anything further would just be arguing for the sake of his ego. Frustrating as his time on Earth had been, he'd at least learned to rein in that impulse.

Fiyu released her technique and they headed toward the city hiding in plain sight. Theo wore the Deuxan robe, while Nauda embraced her Tatian identity and Fiyu just tried to hide within a large robe. When Senka saw them she came running after, but Nauda scooped her up and put her on her shoulders. Perhaps later they'd have to stick her in an obscuring robe, but for now that should be sufficient to disguise their group, especially given that they seemed to have evaded pursuit.

They moved parallel to the forest, but as the shining walls of the city grew nearer, they began to run into the roads covering the region. Most were unoccupied, this far from the main working regions, but he saw a few farmers moving herds of animals toward the city.

For a time he'd almost convinced himself that soulcrafters in this part of Deuxan were nothing like the ones he remembered, then a disruption in the road ahead drew their attention.

"Don't argue, worms! You'll get your pathetic wagon back as soon as the hunt is over!" A Deuxan man with an Archcrafter's soulhome stood on top of a wagon filled with bronze bundles of grass. Several villagers huddled away, but an old woman still gripped the halter of the beast leading the wagon. "Let go, hag! Do you have any idea who I am?"

It didn't seem like Deuxan had changed that much after all.

The smart thing to do would have been to just let the injustice pass, like so many others. But as Nauda set Senka down and stepped forward, he realized that he hadn't explained enough after all.

"What's going on here?" Nauda asked. The Archcrafter turned to her, his eyes taking in her Tatian cloak and sandals before he bothered looking at her soulhome.

"This has nothing to do with you, outsider. I'm an Archcrafter of the Armeau family, and the Armeau family requires the use of this wagon for only a short time, but these worms refuse to give it. My patience for these good people is wearing thin, and I have none in store for Tatian peasants."

Nauda wasn't foolish enough to attack him over that, but she did frown, and unfortunately that was enough. The Archcrafter immediately jumped down from the wagon to face her.

"You think you can challenge me, soulcrafter? If you want to treat our court like your miserable little home village, you'll have to prove yourself to me first."

"This is..." Nauda started to answer, but Theo quickly moved behind her and put a cautioning hand on her back. "Forgive me, Archcrafter. This humble villager was only curious about your glorious activities."

"I suppose you would be. Stay long enough and you'll see the hunt for yourself." With that, the Armeau noble turned back to the villagers.

During the distraction, several of the younger Deuxans had convinced the old woman not to risk herself against a noble. She continued to glower at the Archcrafter, but he only sneered at her as he moved past to the wagon. Reaching into the back, he began hurling the bundles of grass out to empty the wagon.

"Why stop me?" Nauda asked extremely softly. "Was the offer a trap?"

"No, challenges really work that way here. If you had won, he would have left them alone."

"Didn't you see his soulhome? He's nearly the weakest imaginable Archcrafter: only a few rooms on his ground floor, and he hasn't built a second tier since he ascended. I could have worked around his stronger cantae."

"Possibly, but don't underestimate him. Many Deuxan duelists have techniques or armaments to make use of their rank." Theo flattened his hand on her back to soothe her anger while he kept speaking. "But even if you did, it would only draw us into more problems. Someone else from the Armeau family might come to challenge you in return, just to equal the insult."

Though Nauda clearly didn't like that fact, she held back and kept her face neutral. The Archcrafter cast them one more glance, but seemed satisfied enough that he turned to depart. When he tried to guide the beast, it let out a low groan, uncooperative even when he sent a spark of cantae into its hide.

As he departed, he left behind the family of villagers and a heap of bundled grass. Fiyu hastened to assist them with gathering it up, though there was little they could do without the wagon. Senka ran to help her, but as soon as she hefted one of the bundles over her head, it proved too heavy and she pitched over backwards. At least she had kept her mouth shut while the Archcrafter was present.

"Did I insult him just by frowning?" Nauda asked, turning her gaze away from the scene.

"Expressions can cause serious offense here. I'm sure you can adapt, but you'd better explain it to Fiyu before she offends anyone. Deuxan cultures tend to be subtle and complicated."

"Not so subtle, considering that he didn't even notice I was mocking him."

"Your sarcasm might not be so effective here." Theo gave her a wry smile and nodded his head toward the departing noble. "If he's someone important in the family, he's used to people fawning over him like that unironically."

Nauda ground her teeth and went to help Fiyu. "I have a feeling that I'm not going to like Deuxan."

Working together, the two of them managed to help the villagers assemble their bundles into a form that could be rolled. To Fiyu's evident disappointment, they didn't seem at all grateful, and many of them cast angry glances toward the noble. Given that they were simply peasants, they probably weren't at great risk, but he could understand how they feared some sort of punishment.

Finally their group gathered again, remaining on the road as they watched the villagers go. Senka crouched at the side, chewing on a fallen blade of bronze grass, making a disgusted face, then chewing again. The other two turned toward him, clearly expecting more of an explanation, so he just raised his hands to either side.

"Welcome to the real Deuxan."

"I spoke to many villagers and none acted like this," Nauda said, her words precise. "Are they not the real Deuxan?"

"Rank matters immensely here. That's why he pushed to ascend, even though he hadn't finished soulcrafting much of a first tier. This won't be our last encounter like this."

Fiyu sighed and pulled her hood up around her face. "I do not think I will like it here."

"It might not be so bad." Theo glanced after the retreating Archcrafter, just now disappearing into the forest, then smiled. "You want to follow him and steal his stuff?"